The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-02-05

and the hearing of the case it is unneces-
sary to speak She saw Ernest at inter
walls. and each time was shocked beyond
| expression to note the change wrought in
! MIN.
"Guilty or not guilty." she said to her
| self, she will never recover the shock anu
| the shame.n
In due course the trial came off, and
created the most widespread interest, and
in the end Ernest Burnett was acquitted.
He returned to his family an old man. He
was now bent, worn, and gray-headed; he
would see nobody; he would not go back
to the office; he passed his days in his
study, and long after his wife had retired
to rest she could hear him pacing up and
down the room. One morning, however,
| yielding to her prayers and entreaties, he
| said he would return to the office. His
manner was strange, his face was cold and
colorless, and he seemed to tremble in
every limb, as he said goodbye to his
thankful wife, and kissed the children
tenderly; but Mrs. Burnett ascribed these
peculiarities to the natural emotion which
sensitive disposition would feel at the
prospect of making temperance in the
office he had left so many weeks previously
in shame and disgrace.
Mrs. Burnett went down to the station
| that evening to meet him by his usual train,
| and was not surprised that he did not come
| by it, for she guessed that after so long an
absence from business he would necessarily
| be detained. But when train after train
| came in without him, and she was weary of
| waiting on the chilly, rain-Swept platform,
her heart sank and indescribable fears agi-
| tated her. AT ten o'clock she telegraphed
to the care-taker at the Office. The reply
was that Mr.. Burnett had not been in the
city that day All night long she sat up,
| listening in eager expectation for the sounds
of the gate-latch and the familiar step on
the garden path The next morning she
went to the Office. The partners could tell
her nothing, as they had not seen Burnett
since the day of his acquittal. She returned
| to Eltheath half hoping to find her husband
there, but the home was as she had left it.
For three long weary days and three long
weary nights she waited and hoped. She
had no heart to set about her usual duties,
and even the children seemed to feel there
was cloud over the home, for they talked
in whispers and moved about silently, as in
house the dead.
A week passed, and the broken-hearted
woman could arrive at but one conclusion:
that the shame and the exposure of the trial
had been too much for her husband, had
crushed his hyper-sensitive nature. and chat
he had made away with himself Time
went on, and, in the meanwhile, matters
were beginning to look serious for the little
household. Ernest Burnett had drawn a
good salary from the house of Whitehead
IL Co., but the necessary expenses attend
ing the bringing up of young family had.
so far absorbed it that, although his tastes
of 40 OIL d.,
the most careful and economical of house
keepers, she found herself with barely a
years income to go on with, and her first
step was to sell the Lares and Penates as
ISOLATED with the happiest years of her life,
and remove from the comfortable villa to a
humble lodging.
Then Mr.. Target came forward in new
character: "He had BEEN" he said, s'per-
haps little too hard at times upon an
erring brother; but it should never be said
that he warred against the widow and the
fatherless"
He himself would go round for subscrip-
tions for the relief of Mrs. Burnett, and as
every one liked the little woman and felt
genuine pity for her helpless children, the
money came in freely, and at the end of a
fortnight very handsome sum was col
lected. OF course, as Mr.. Target had taken
the initiative in the benevolent work, it was
but fair that the disposal of the funds should
be left in his hands.
What his intentions were, however never
TRANSFERRED for one fine morning he disap-
peared from Eltheath, taking with him the
handsome sum of money, to procure which
he had exerted himself 80 creditably. This
was a cruel blow for poor Mrs. Burnett, but
matters went from bad to worse, while, to
add to her misfortunes, she was confined of
a child. How to meet this extra claim and
provide for the wants of fast-growing
young family with rapidly diminishing
funds, became question so serious that
she could see nothing but ruin staring her
in the face; and, for the first time, the
memory of her husband was sullied with
the thought of the misery his rash act had
brought upon helpless innocents.
Kind and thoughtful neighbors took the
three elder children off her hands for
awhile, and with this aid she was enabled
to tide over an anxious period. But when,
upon her recovery to health, there was no
further excuse for inflicting her burdens
upon other folks, she determined to remove
to London, where she fondly imagined there
was better chance of being able to gain
livelihood than in an obscure suburb.
Amidst all her troubles her pride never en-
tirely forsook her, and when Mcssrs White
head 81 Co.-probably conscious smitten at
having wrought a grievous harm on inno-
cent people-offered her pension in con-
sideration of her husbands services, she
declined it, saying that no pension of theirs
could atone, in her mind, for their having
driven her husband to his death.
On arriving in London Mrs Burnett de-
termined to try and get at any rate liveli-
hood by giving singing lessons. For time,
by dint of incessant work, and in spite Of
innumerable rebuffs and disappointments,
the gallant little woman did tolerably well,
and was able to give some attention to the
education of her children, the eldest of
whom was now a fine boy of nine. He was
a sharp lad, and, as we'll as the two next to
him, inherited in a remarkable degree his
mothers talent for music But constant
exposure to the weather at all hours and
in all seasons played havoc with Mrs
Burnett's constitutions her throat became
so affected that the doctor strictly forbade
her to sing, and out of consideration for
those dependent On her, she yielded, and
once more found herself face to face with
that pitiless problem, how to live.
She had, however, contrived to put by a
little money during her four years. music
teaching, and this, with help from without,
enabled her to entertain the idea of taking
lO1 nin -bnI1ca cha ,o1,,